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The Royal Diaries: Cleopatra VII - Daughter of the Nile
The Royal Diaries: Cleopatra VII - Daughter of the Nile is a short film based on Cleopatra VII: Daughter of the Nile by Kristiana Gregory. The movie first aired on HBO on September 18, 2000. It starred Elisa Moolecherry as Cleopatra VII and Hrant Alianak as King Ptolemy Auletes. The film is a part of The Royal Diaries series by Scholastic. A young Cleopatra travels to Rome with her father, the pharaoh of Egypt, after his life is threatened. In search of military aid to help reclaim the throne, the king and Cleopatra plead their case to Julius Caesar and Cicero. Plot In Alexandria, Egypt, Cleopatra VII (Elisa Moolecherry) visits her father's bedchambers to say goodnight, when a deadly snake slithers by. Her father, King Ptolemy Auletes (Hrant Alianak), pharaoh of Egypt, believes this to be an assassination attempt and goes into hiding. His oldest daughter, Tryphaena (Linda Gizirian), takes over his room and intimidates her sisters, Cleopatra and Berenice (Larissa Gomes). Cleopatra meets Olympus (Yani Gellman) to hear news of her father, but only learns of his incompetence as king. Cleopatra, dressed as a common girl, goes to the marketplace to discover the general opinion of her father. Olympus meets her there and informs her that King Auletes is going to sail to Rome for help. She sneaks onto the ship with Neva (Marilo Nunez) and Puzo (Billy Khoury), her loyal servant and bodyguard. Before reaching Rome, Cleopatra and King Auletes hear word that Tryphaena has crowned herself queen, making their trip all the more urgent. In Rome, King Auletes and Cleopatra are welcomed rudely by Cicero (David Calderisi), who disrepects them in Latin. Cleopatra understands the language and retorts, gaining the admiration of Julius Caesar (Jan Filips). The princess becomes friendly with Cicero, until she learns from Marc Antony (Matthew Witherly) that Cicero has been stalling the Senate and keeping King Auletes from leaving. Cleopatra begins to feverishly research Roman scrolls, particularly the Sibylline prophecies. From the research, Cleopatra puts together a speech that she presents before Caesar, Cicero, and Marc Antony. She wins them over, and they allow the king and princess to return to Egypt with Rome's support. Back at home, King Auletes executes his daughter, Berenice, who took over after Tryphaena was strangled. Cleopatra feels wiser and knows that one day she will be ready to be queen. Cast and characters *Elisa Moolecherry as Cleopatra VII *Hrant Alianak as King Ptolemy AuletesCredited as Pharaoh *Marilo Nunez as Neva *Billy Khoury as Puzo *David Calderisi as Marcus Cicero *Linda Gizirian as TryphaenaCredited as Tryphaina *Matthew Witherly as Marc Antony *Jan Filips as Julius Caesar *Larissa Gomes as Berenice *Yani Gellman as Olympus *Noah Klar as Young Servant Crew and credits *'Directed by': Randy Bradshaw *'Written by': Lori Lansens *'Adapted from the book': "Cleopatra VII, Daughter of the Nile" written by Kristiana Gregory *'Based on': the Scholastic book series "The Royal Diaries" created by Jean Feiwel *'Executive producer': Deborah Forte *'Co-executive producers': Bill Siegler, Martha Atwater *'Editor': David B. Thompson *'Production designer': Ian Brock *'Director of photography': Ludek Bogner *'Line producer': Lena Cordina *'Executive in charge': Christie Dreyfuss *'Music by': Jack Lenz and Douglas John Cameron *'Associate producer': Tessa Abdul *'Production manager': Lena Cordina *'1st assistant director': John Pace *'Location manager': Karen Perez *'Art director': Roderik Mayne *'1st assistant art director': Theresa Tindall *'2nd assistant director': Eric Banz *'Production coordinator': Nancy Wilson-Kelly *'Script supervisor': Donna Gardon *'Set decorator': Jeff Fruitman *'Costume designer': Joyce Schure *'Key wardrobe': Wayne Godfrey *'Property master': Alan Doucette *'Make-up': Mary Sue Heron *'Hairstylist': Etheline Joseph *'Camera operator': Barry Bergthorson *'Sound recordist': Bryan Day *'Re-recording engineer': Steve Foster *'Gaffer': Michael Forrester *'Key grip': Brian Potts *'1st assistant camera': Lisa Piltcher *'Production supervisor': Lynda McKenzie *'Assistant editor': Paul Rubenstein *'Construction coordinator': Bill White *'Transport coordinator': Russ Martin *'Stunt coordinator': Anton Tyukodi *'Special effects by': Brock Jolliffe *'Casting': Susan Forrest and Sharon Forrest *'Production accountants': Bev Ross, Donna Demers *'Scholastic financial executive': Diane Vilagi *'Scholastic post production manager': Carolyn Kelly *'Production services provided by': Protocol Entertainment Inc. *'Special thanks to': Translation Center University of Massachusetts, Dome Audio Video & Effects, The Lab Home video release Cleopatra VII - Daughter of the Nile was first released on video tape in September 2000. It was later released on DVD with Elizabeth I - Red Rose of the House of Tudor and Isabel - Jewel of Castilla under the title, The Royal Diaries on July 1, 2008.https://www.amazon.com/Royal-Diaries-Tamara-Hope/dp/B0016MJ6EW/ Differences from the book *Arrow is a cat, instead of a leopard. Therefore Berenice's pet baboon is omitted, and Arrow runs away after Tryphaena orders her guards to capture him. *Several characters are omitted, including Julia, Theophilus, Tullus Atticus, Pompey the Great, Octavian, and three of Cleopatra's siblings, Arsinoë, Ptolemy XIII (only briefly mentioned), and Ptolemy XIV. *Cleopatra sneaks onto her father's ship by rolling herself in a carpet. This is a nod to how Cleopatra met Julius Caesar in real life. *In the book, Julius Caesar is only mentioned several times. However in the movie, he appears as a full character. *In the book, Cleopatra mentions that King Ptolemy dislikes his slaves marrying, but later he turns a blind eye when he sees Puzo and Neva together. The movie actually shows his dislike outwardly several times, though he allows them marry at the end. *Cleopatra takes a proactive approach towards getting home in the film. None of her research of the Sibylline prophecies or the pleading of her case to Caesar happens in the book. *Marc Antony has only one scene with dialogue, while the rest of his scenes from the book are cut. Awards *Parents' Choice Award (2001) - Silver Honorhttp://www.parents-choice.org/product.cfm?product_id=3480&StepNum=1&award=aw References See also External links * Category:A to Z Category:Films Category:The Royal Diaries Category:The Royal Diaries films Category:Cleopatra VII: Daughter of the Nile